More aggressively than any other province in Canada, Ontario is shifting health care out of hospitals and long-term care facilities and into homes in an effort to save money and allow the sick and elderly to remain at home. In Canada health care delivered by physicians or in the hospital is publicly funded, but home care falls into a grey zone that is not clearly protected by the country’s Health Act. While the province of Ontario offers limited free home care in some situations, such as for those with acute conditions who are discharged from hospital, there are no clear standards for what is and is not covered by public funding. To add to the confusion, health care in Ontario is administered by 14 regional bodies, making comparisons difficult and information scattered. Our series uncovered a public home care system plagued by inconsistent standards of care, byzantine processes and a troubling lack of transparency for both patients and family caregivers. We found that assessment standards are changed, services reduced and clients cut off in reaction to budget shortfalls and patients win or lose for no reason other than their addresses and how generously their local agencies are funded. We also found that more than 4,500 people across the province are languishing on waiting lists for publicly funded personal-support services in their homes. We also found that in an effort to cut costs “home care” increasingly is being provided in privately run clinics, meaning individuals who are sick or elderly are being asked to travel sometimes long distances to have bandages changed and other procedures that used to be done in their homes. During our investigation we also found that the care of many elderly patients was being shifted from the provincial bodies to non-profit agencies with little notice and in some cases no follow through, meaning that they essentially were cut off care.
